UW-Madison ranked 15th best public college by U.S. News & World Report
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is tied for 15th among public institutions in U.S. News & World Report’s latest college rankings. Overall, UW–Madison ranks 49th in a four-way tie.
Last year, UW–Madison ranked 12th among publics and 46th overall in a six-way tie. The rankings, released today, include more than 301 national doctoral universities and will be included in the 2019 edition of America’s Best Colleges.
U.S. News gathers data from and about each school in undergraduate academic reputation, student excellence, faculty resources, financial resources, alumni giving, graduation and retention rates, graduate rate performances, and social mobility. Each indicator is assigned a weight based on U.S. News’ judgments about which measures of quality matter most.
The methodology has changed since last year with social mobility now included as a component. Other changes include less weight placed on undergraduate academic reputation and graduation and retention rates, categories UW–Madison continues to perform well in. Undergraduate academic reputation is based on a combination of how institutions are regarded by top administrators at peer institutions and high school counselors’ perceptions of institutions. UW-Madison’s peer reputation score ranked 30th overall and eighth among public institutions. The high school counselor score ranked 40th overall and 10th among publics.
UW-Madison is ranked as the 23rd “Best College for Veterans” in a three-way tie. Institutions included on this list must be certified for the GI Bill, participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program or be a public institution that charges in-state tuition to all out-of-state veterans, must have enrolled a minimum of 20 veterans and active service members in the 2017-18 academic year, and must be ranked in the top half of the institution’s overall U.S. News ranking category.
The report also evaluated undergraduate engineering and business programs.
For the fifth year in a row, the undergraduate program at College of Engineering ranks 14th overall in a four-way tie and ranks eighth among public doctoral institutions.
The undergraduate program at the Wisconsin School of Business is ranked 18th overall in a three-way tie and is eighth among public doctoral institutions in a three-way tie. The insurance/risk management program is ranked second overall and second among public universities. The real estate program is ranked second overall and first among public institutions.
These overall business and engineering rankings are based solely on the judgments of deans and senior faculty who responded to an invitation to nominate peer institutions on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).
UW-Madison has performed well in other recent rankings including:
Washington Monthly: Ranked 22nd overall, up from 26th last year. Rankings are based on three criteria: research, social mobility, and community and national service.
The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education: 66th, up from 71st last year. Rankings are based on 15 key indicators that assess colleges in four areas: outcomes, resources, engagement and environment.
Academic Ranking of World Universities: For the third year in a row, 28th in the world, 21st nationally. Rankings are based on alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, highly cited researchers, the number of articles published in Nature and Science, articles indexed in the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance based on the size of an institution.
Money Magazine’s Best Colleges for Your Money: 48th overall and 30th among public universities. Money reviewed 727 schools based on 26 factors in three categories: quality of education, affordability and outcomes.
Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings: 33rd, compiled from a globally representative survey of more than 10,000 senior academics.
Forbes Top Colleges: 17th public, 75th overall, using information about alumni salaries, debt after graduation, retention and graduation rates, debt load upon graduation, and signs of individual success including academic and career accolades.
Forbes Best Value Colleges: 37th public, 73rd overall, scored on net price, net debt, alumni earnings, timely graduation, school quality and access for low-income students.
Center for World University Rankings: 27th worldwide, 21st nationally. Rankings by category include: quality publications, 26th; citations, 15th; influence, 30th; research output, 32nd; alumni employment, 79th; quality of education, 65th; and quality of faculty, 32nd.
Tags: rankings